World naked bike ride 2011- Halifax, NS Special

Halifax
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Under the Nova Scotian blue skies, over 90 people participated in the World Naked Bike Ride today, and hundreds of curious bystanders got to see a sight not often seen in downtown Halifax.

In his third year helping out with the WNBR event, Tom MacDonald readily grabbed the mike to rally the troops of painted naked riders. Long eared daschunds, skeletons, hearts and peace symbols gave color to sensitive body areas all in an effort to send a message. And what was the message? “There are a bunch of things. Mostly community fun. Biking has been seen as dangerous. But it is not the bikes that are dangerous, it is the cars,” MacDonald continued, “Bikes were here first. In 1905, there was a huge bike culture. Then cars came in, and by the 1950‘s biking died down.” He didn’t seem worried about being arrested. “You look around and there is no police here,” He added, “There have been some arrests in other places, but no convictions.” In fact, he indicated that after the arrests, laws were often passed to protect the nude bikers.

Ottawa Citizen reported that riders were warned if caught naked from the waist down, they would be arrested, so opted for a topless ride. But Toronto riders rode in the buff, according to the Toronto Sun.

Along with bringing awareness to the vulnerability of bikers, the World Bike Ride Organization also advocates less dependency on oil. Their motto: It's time to put a stop to the indecent exposure of people and the planet to cars and the pollution they create.

President of the Blue Nose Naturists, David Piquette lend his support for the awareness of the carbon footprint. “People are in a rush”, he said, “Then they say I’m here, now what?” As a naturist, Piquette says, “We are interested in the person and in nature. There is no better feeling than to be outside and nude is even better.”